By Ryan Pilon

Business almost lost thousands due to job action, thankful it’s over

Jun 2, 2011 | 4:43 PM

Ric Driediger is breathing a sigh of relief.

He owns Churchill River Canoe Outfitters and before the province appointed a mediator for Saskatchewan teachers and the bargaining committee, he was about to lose more than $23,000 in business revenue.

Driediger’s company rents out canoes, as well as provides guides and transportation, to school groups for class trips.

However, that was in jeopardy when the teachers announced they would not be providing extracurricular support, as negotiations had stalled on a new contract.

“We have about 25 school groups that come up here,” Driediger said.

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“It would have had a huge impact on my canoe rental.”

Luckily for Driediger, all job action will stop thanks to the appointment of a mediator.

There is a guarantee of no job action until the report of the mediator is tabled in cabinet at the end of July.

“Huge relief and my phone has been fairly busy, with schools that had cancelled that are trying to rebook,” said Driediger.

“The biggest thing is that students must be breathing a sigh of relief, because a lot of them have put in a lot of time and energy in making this school trip happen.”

Driediger said he did lose out on some money, as three groups that cancelled aren’t able to rebook, but it’s nothing compared to what could have been.

rpilon@panow.com